Slideshow: The Evolution of Robots, Part 1

Somehow, robot stories, articles, feats, and photos always come to the fore. For me, they're right up there with things NASA. What follows are our beloved robots, from new to now ancient, and their raisons d'être. While I'm trying to stick to those that are important on an electronics basis, I couldn't resist throwing in a few Hollywood examples as well.

Why a two-part series? There were just too many examples to be included, so I've divided the subject matter up into recent robots (Part 1 for those announced just this year) and really ancient robots (Part 2). The only exception is the final slide in Part 1 from Max Maxfield's toy box. That could have fit in the next segment.

One of the more recent robots to launch is the UBR-1 by Unbounded Robotics, Inc. The goal was to bring to market an affordable robot that was still powerful. This one-armed assistant is easy to program, based on a mobile platform.
(Source: Unbounded Robotics, Eric Guibransen)

When I first saw this one, it looked like a cross between a Volkswagen engine, a rabbit, and a Costa-Rican bug, but OK...

WildCat is a four-legged robot being developed to run fast on all types of terrain. So far WildCat has run at about 16 mph on flat terrain using bounding and galloping gaits. The video shows WildCat's best performance so far. WildCat is being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA's M3 program. For more information about WildCat visit our website at www.BostonDynamics.com.

The plan seems to be a rover/robot snake combo: The rover can cover the long distances, while the snake crawls on the ground. The combo also makes sense from a power basis. A cable will attach the rover and snake. The snake can draw power from the rover's abundant power source, and the cable can provide traction and communications.

You can compare robots to computers in this regard. PC's are generally used for a wide variety of applications, while embedded systems typically are more dedicated devices. The short answer is in what form are they the most useful? Industrial robots are certainly more dedicated, but flexibility can also be a virtue in that environment as industrial needs change. If there is a niche that it is possible to fill, then it will tend to be filled.

No, it is fairly well established that humanoid robots aren't te best solution for something that has a specific singular task. there are only 3 real reasons to make a humanoid robot that I can think of.

1. to operate tools and equipment designed for humans with as much flexibility as possible.

2. To interact WITH humans as a companion (that is pretty thin logic).

3. just to help us research and solve problems to further our technology. (balance, gait, etc)